Aesha Scott is back on ‘Below Deck Med’ Season 9 as Chief Stew and will be hoping not to clash with Captain Sandy.
Captain Sandy Yawn has a long history of not loving her Chief Stewardesses. Whether it’s her bias against the interior and her feeling that they are merely “the help,” Captain Sandy has often butted heads with the head of the interior. Most notably with former Chief Stew Hannah Ferrier. With Aesha Scott, a former protégé of Hannah, back on Below Deck Mediterranean as the Chief Stew, her experience working with Captain Sandy previously and her impeccable working relationship with Captain Jason Chambers on Below Deck Down Under, will show why she’s one of the best at her jobs. Based on both their experiences, if Captain Sandy butts heads with Aesha, it will prove that maybe Captain Sandy is the problem as the common denominator.
Below Deck Mediterranean was the first official spin-off of the flagship program. Bringing the action to the stunning locales along the Mediterranean Sea, viewers were gifted an opportunity to see a new crew with the same drama they were already familiar with. The second season introduced a new captain to the show as history was made. Captain Sandy Yawn became the first and only female captain in the Below Deck Cinematic Universe. As a pioneer in the industry, viewers were immediately taken by her drastically different working style compared to previous Below Deck MedCaptain Mark Howard and the flagship’s icon, Captain Lee Rosbach. Captain Sandy had a much more hands-on approach. Dare we call it aggressively micromanaging. Always finding a way to appear on camera, Captain Sandy inserted herself into all aspects of the show, which caused her to be quite polarizing. But, at the end of the day, she has remained the face of this franchise. As three more spin-offs came to life, Below Deck Down Under tapped fan-favorite Aesha Scott to lead the franchise. Having a season and a half under her belt on Below Deck Med, Aesha Scott rose to superstardom. Fans were in complete shock when the Below Deck Med Season 9 trailer dropped as Aesha Scott was back, trading life Down Under for another run in the Med. So how will these two work together with Aesha now in a leadership role? It’s time to analyze what could come.
Aesha Scott Has Become a Top Tier ‘Below Deck’ Star
Fans of Below Deck were first introduced to Aesha Scott during Season 4 of Below Deck Mediterranean. Joining the crew of Sirocco, Aesha served as the 2nd Stew under the tutelage of Hannah Ferrier. Known for her infamous voice, her dirty mind, and sickeningly cute relationship with deckhand Jack Stirrup, the New Zealand native was a refreshing addition to the franchise. Despite a chaotic season with an over-her-head Chef that was swiftly fired, a 3rd Stew that took over the galley before a villainous Chef Ben Robinson saved the charter season, and an unresponsive 3rd stew who was hired and let go in the blink of an eye, Aesha still managed to emerge as a breakout star. It seemed her time on Below Deck Med was one-and-done, but after the chaos of Hannah Ferrier’s shock firing during Season 5, Aesha received a call from Captain Sandy to come in and serve under new Chief Stew Bugsy Drake. Aesha balanced her professional working relationship and her preconceived notions about Bugsy well, and once again, Aesha was nothing but a delight. It seemed like an obvious choice when Aesha popped up on the third Below Deck spin-off in 2022. Serving as the Chief Stew for the megayacht in the Great Barrier Reef, Aesha brought all her silly, goofy nuances and paired them with exceptional leadership skills. She still had “the mind of a boy going through puberty.” If fans thought you couldn’t love Aesha even more, she proved you wrong!
It wouldn’t be a season of Below Deck without some drama, and in her two seasons of that show, she handled the moments with professionalism and grace. During Season 1, Aesha had an amazing working relationship with her 2nd Stew Tumi Mhlongo, who would go on to become Chief Stew during Below Deck Med’s 8th season. But Aesha’s 3rd Stew, Magda Ziomek, had little interest in doing her job. She focused on texting her boyfriend, and when she used up all the ship’s bandwidth, it was time to let her. But nothing compared to the horrid charter season chef, Chef Ryan McKeown. There are very few people who can’t get along with Aesha. Insert Chef Ryan here. They were at loggerheads until the day that Chef Ryan was let go. In the end, Aesha won the battle. During Season 2, Below Deck Down Under was rocked with twin horrific sexual assault and sexual harassment incidents. Bosun Luke Jones and 2nd Stew Laura Bileskaline were immediately relieved from their duties. The shocking situation continued to prove Aesha’s ability to lead through the chaotic moments that followed.
Captain Sandy’s Leadership is About To Be Tested
As fans gushed over the handsome Captain Jason Chambers, Aesha developed a brother-sister relationship with her superior. Their bond was quite reminiscent of Captain Lee’s relationship with Below Deck’s biggest name, Kate Chastain. The familiar coexistence became the backbone of the franchise. They had a mutual respect that was earned. Captain Jason trusted Aesha more than anyone else that was part of his crew. Having learned under Hannah, witnessing her fiery relationship with Captain Sandy, Aesha took the best of Hannah’s working style and ability to adjust to specific personalities, and used it as growth for her own personal journey. No one is perfect, but Aesha Scott just might be. With no dark marks on her Below Deck resume, having a lead position back on Below Deck Med will be quite telling. Fans know she can lead and be an impeccable Chief Stew. But how will she fair with her former boss?
With seven seasons behind the wheel, Captain Sandy is the longest tenured crew member on Below Deck Med. But she also seems to be the least popular among the fans. Overcompensating for the gender inequality in the yachting industry, Captain Sandy’s mission on the show is primarily to uphold her storied reputation. Viewers of her first few seasons had their heads spun around because of the amount of times Captain Sandy dropped the line about her reputation. She has always seemed to be on the show to become the star that Captain Lee already was, rather than breaking the stigma of female boat captains. Oh, and then there is her obsession with water toys. She demanded the deck team put the toys out for the guests the moment they anchor. She bills it as an attempt to maximize the guest experience, but she has also let it slip that she wants to be the flashiest boat in all the Med. Oh, and don’t forget about her unrelenting desire for immaculate table settings. It’s all about image for Captain Sandy. She is a goddess in her own little universe.
Captain Sandy Brings Own Style to Below Deck Med
Her wishy-washy approach to her crews over the seasons has caused viewers to question her micromanaging presence. In one season, she holds strong about the rules of Maritime Law, which resulted in the firing of longtime Chief Stew Hannah. Hannah, who was dealing with anxiety, didn’t have a warm reception from Captain Sandy when she shared her battle with it just two seasons prior. When Hannah revealed it was over her growing feelings towards Bosun Conrad Empson, Captain Sandy essentially told her to suck it up. During the seasons following Hannah’s dismissal, crew members, including Season 6’s deckhand Lloyd Spencer and Season 7’s brilliant Chef David White, experienced their own bouts of anxiety, and Captain Sandy was there for them. Perhaps she learned from the fandom blow back of how insensitive she was on the topic of mental health. Or maybe it was her favoritism toward those departments, but we’ll get to that. Then, when it came to who on the crew is meant to decide cabin assignments, Captain Sandy publicly obliterated Hannah when Bosun Malia White’s boyfriend turned replacement chef, Tom Checketts, came on board, and they wanted to bunk together. And once again, a season later, when the management company told Captain Sandy that there could not be any co-ed room sharing, she left the room assignment in the hands of Chief Stew Katie Flood, contradicting who was in charge of cabins. It should be noted that every other season it’s always the Chief Stew. Captain Sandy just had a deep-rooted hatred of Hannah. Hypocrisy or just reading the comment section? Who’s to say?
Captain Sandy has notoriously played favorites among her crews. Season after season, there was at least one member of the exterior team that she had a fondness for. By far, the most prominent example was her future mini-me, Malia White. Coming in as a deckhand in Season 2, Captain Sandy was elated to see a woman on deck, exclaiming she saw a lot of herself in Malia. While Malia was certainly not the first nor last female deckhand in the franchise’s history, the simple fact that Captain Sandy took a liking to her turned Malia into a villain in the eyes of the fans. And to no fault of her own. There also might have been an underlying crush on the part of Captain Sandy towards Malia, thanks to her infamous Cameo scandal. What has been displayed through the treatment of Malia has also exposed her views of the exterior versus the interior. Because she has a closer connection with the deckhands, she sees them as the end all and be all. For the interior, she sees them as “the help.” When Bugsy defends her rival after Captain Sandy claimed that Hannah just waited tables, you knew that Captain Sandy was out of line. Her view on the interior team is unlike how any other captain treats their interior.
So why is all of this important? Aesha Scott has proven she goes above and beyond for her job. She has risen to the ranks of Kate and Hannah as the gold standard of Chief Stews. Now, as the only Chief Stew to crossover into two different franchises, Aesha Scott may actually be the best. She is beloved. Captain Sandy came into her time on Below Deck Mediterranean with a bias against Hannah Ferrier from watching Season 1. It seeped into how she views the interior crew. With Aesha learning from Hannah, on top of having had an unpleasant time with Tumi during Season 8, Captain Sandy may have some preconceived notions of Aesha. But if Captain Sandy watched the two brilliant seasons of Below Deck Down Under, she’ll know how exceptional Aesha is. If she does not approve of Aesha as Chief Stew, it will prove that Captain Sandy is, and has always been, the problem. Protect Aesha at all costs!
